


The Half-Birthday Present

by GoodbyeBlueMonday



Series: Cat Café Universe [18]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Canon Compliant, Confident Katsuki Yuuri, Day 6, Dogs, Established Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri and Victor Nikiforov are Yuri Plisetsky's Parents, M/M, Married Couple, St. Petersburg, Theme: Celebration, Theme: Home, Theme: Love, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Yuuri Week 2017, because they are both canon; deal with it, brief mention of Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky, newlyweds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 15:43:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11649675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodbyeBlueMonday/pseuds/GoodbyeBlueMonday
Summary: Who celebrates half-birthdays? No one, really, but it's an excuse for Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov to shower his new husband with affection and presents. Or rather, one big, important present.Set at the end of May 2018; canon-compliant as of publication date.





	The Half-Birthday Present

**Author's Note:**

> Rated T for brief mentions of sexual activity. Includes some descriptions of Yuuri dealing with his anxiety, but not too angsty.
> 
> This was just a cute fluffy idea I had originally for day 5, "rebirth" of Yuuri Week, but eventually re-tooled for today's themes (it fits all three of them, really). It ended up about three times the length I expected. Enjoy!

It was less than two weeks after the newly christened Katsuki-Nikiforovs had returned from their month-long honeymoon. Victor had recovered from his sunburns, but Yuuri still wore the (according to Victor) "breathtaking, stunning, AMAZING" tan he had acquired in Réunion. They had struggled to readjust to normal life since then. Yuuri should get back to training, and Victor had his first post-retirement ice show in August. But it was the off-season, and it was too easy to just never leave their giant bed. 

It sometimes felt like it held the whole world, their bed. Because each of them thought his husband contained the world, with the way they had re-arranged each other's worlds. It was so easy to spend all their time fucking each other senseless, or lazing about reading to each other in different languages, watching TV and laughing, gazing at each other and thinking _God, I have the most beautiful, loving husband. What did I do to deserve this?_

But the past few days, things had started to change. Victor was still as affectionate to Yuuri as ever, but sometimes he'd get phone calls and quickly dodge into the bathroom. Like it was important. Like it was a secret. Yuuri was glad that Yurio had barricaded himself in his room today, for some long Skype session with his boyfriend, so that he wouldn't have to endure his commentary on Victor's behavior. _What could be secret between us?_ Victor never acted this way, even with phone calls to other friends like Chris. If he really wanted to keep something secret from Yuuri, the two of them could just speak French, but overall they shared everything with each other. No secrets. Yuuri wasn't sure if that was the _right_ thing to do, but he knew he liked it that way.

If it had been even a year earlier, Yuuri would have been wracked with anxiety about Victor's secretiveness. _Is there someone else? Is he tiring of me?_ He could feel the part of him that wanted him to linger on it, wanted him to panic, needling at him, but he knew better than to listen to it now. Yuuri trusted Victor. They were _married_ , after all. _Newlyweds._ Plus, Victor had found him a therapist in St. Petersburg, and helped him pay for it before Yuuri had had enough money from his own wins to do it himself. (There were some serious perks to being an Olympic champion.) Dr. Pavlova had taught Yuuri to deal with his anxiety by accepting his thoughts, but not dwelling them. It's okay to worry about things. It's not okay to let them consume your day, especially if there's nothing you can do about them.

It was okay to worry about his husband having tense conversations behind back doors, but this had been only going on for a couple of days. Victor had never left his side physically. And it had only been a few times and they weren't _long_ conversations. Yuuri's worries were unfounded, and he could dismiss them into the ether.

Thinking about money had reminded Yuuri of something Victor had said recently. He was thinking of getting them a joint bank account. "Then everything that is mine truly _will_ be yours, and vice versa," Victor had said, sun lighting his hair, making it transparent, as they sat in the cozy cafe down the street from their home. "You can stop worrying about me spoiling you." He'd ruffled Yuuri's hair as they'd both smiled. Yuuri said he'd have to think about it, he liked his self-sufficiency, but Victor's glee was, as usual, infectious. Yuuri wished Victor knew what he did to him, how he could be so convincing without even trying. He didn't think it was on purpose. It was just what love did to a person.

Yuuri shook his head. Yeah, his anxiety was _completely_ silly. Victor loved him, completely, and wanted him for the long haul. There was no doubting that. Yuuri realized he was _really_ worried for _his husband_ , and the fact that whatever this was, it was making Victor so nervous and on-edge. Yuuri didn't like him feeling that way. He wanted to comfort him, be there for him however he could. Yuuri had never felt this way about anyone else, having trouble getting up the energy to emotionally support even other people he cared about, like his family or Phichit. But it came so naturally to him, to want to take care of Victor. It was how Yuuri knew this was real love.

He could hear Victor end his call, turn on and off the sink, and then come out of the bathroom looking flushed. Yuuri's heart sank. "What's wrong, Vitenka? Are you okay?" he asked, as his husband rushed back to him on the couch. 

"Yes, yes," he said. "I'm fine. Don't worry about _me._ " He sat on the couch, and patted his lap. Yuuri giggled as he complied, resting his head in Victor's lap as those long, beautiful fingers settled in and began wandering through his hair. It felt so good, like this, and it never failed to soothe Yuuri's nerves. It was like Victor _knew_ what had been going through his mind. Yuuri remembered, ages ago, still in Hasetsu and learning each other, when he thought his anxiety would scare Victor away. It had been the opposite: Victor met him where he was, learning how to tell when he was upset and what to do to calm him. He was so _perfect_ , everything Yuuri had dreamed of and then some. And now he was Yuuri's, forever.

"I'm arranging something that you're going to _love_ , my dear Yuu-Yuu," he said, as he grabbed Yuuri's hand and blew a raspberry on it. Yuuri laughed, rolling over to face him. Okay, maybe Victor wasn't really _perfect_ , even if it felt like sometimes he was for Yuuri.

"That nickname is so stupid, I don't know where you got it from," he said to his husband, but there was no malice in it. He was smiling up, with laughter still in his eyes. And Victor was gazing just as adoringly down at him. In that moment, Yuuri knew he trusted Victor completely. Even putting his lifelong crush aside, he knew he couldn't have picked a better person to marry.

* * *

 

The next day, Yuuri woke up early. They had gone to bed at 9:30, before the sun had set in St. Petersburg. Even after living there for a year, Yuuri still wasn't quite used to its famous "white nights," where the sun stayed up until 10:30 pm at the height of summer and never fully set, the night an everlasting twilight. It left him feeling a bit disoriented. Still, it was beautiful to go shopping or out to dinner with Victor and still have it be as bright as midday in Hasetsu. It made the bleak, fierce winters feel worth it, although even those could be beautiful in their own way, watching snowflakes speckle Makkachin's dark fur and Victor try to catch the falling ones on his tongue. He'd tried to "teach" Yuuri, forgetting that Yuuri had lived through plenty of his own snowy winters in Detroit. Sometimes he let his husband forget that and show him things he already knew, because it made Victor so happy to coach Yuuri in anything.

Yuuri sighed. All it took was a few rays of sunlight across Victor's sleeping face to get him reminiscing on their memories together. Yuuri traced a finger across them, feather-light, trying his best not to wake his husband up.

Which was good, because as soon as Victor got up, he was acting weird again. He was rushing to get Yuuri out the door, but also going on about how Yakov was going to coach him today, because Victor had an errand. Yuuri raised an eyebrow, but Victor only smiled as he shoved Yuuri's clothes at him. "Remember that surprise I told you about? That you'll love?"

Yuuri didn't ask, because he liked surprises, too—even if he wasn't as _addicted_ to them as Victor was. "Of course," Yuuri responded, smiling back at his frantic husband. "Just take care of yourself, alright? You know how I worry." Victor smiled back at him, his big heart-shaped smile that never ceased to make Yuuri's heart soar with delight. As Yuuri pulled his shirt over his head, he felt arms tugging at him, and when his face was exposed again, lips against his in a wet, desperate kiss.

He laughed into it, shoving Victor away after a few seconds. "Honey! Stop! You have to get ready! And I have to get our son up." His word choice just made Victor more affectionate, swooping in for another kiss, but Yuuri knew that; Victor loved it when Yuuri thought of them as Yurio's dads. He indulged Victor for a couple of minutes, heavy kisses with Yuuri's back against the door, weaving his hands through Victor's soft hair. Only a _couple_ of minutes, though. "Really," he said. 

"Be careful, Yuu-Yuu," he said, pulling out that ridiculous nickname again. "He's going to be an angry little kitten. Especially if he was up all night with his Otabek."

Yuuri sighed. Yurio thought they didn't know, but there had been an empty bottle of lube in the recycling when they'd returned from their honeymoon. They'd given Yurio permission to let Otabek stay with him there while they were gone, so it was easy to connect the dots. They knew exactly what kept them up so late, even when they were Skyping from thousands of miles away. "The rink will cool him down. It always does."

And then Victor said something _truly_ bizarre. "Happy half-birthday, _mon chou_ ," he cooed as he leaned in for another kiss. Yuuri indulged him for a moment, but couldn't help the laughter that escaped his lips.

"My half-birthday?" he giggled. "Who celebrates half birthdays?" He laughed for a solid minute, to the point where it felt sore. But when he looked up, Victor looked sad. 

 _Oh no._ Yuuri said, as he realized.

"Oh, is that was the surprise was for?" he asked, rubbing a hand up Victor's face, soothing him. "I'm sorry, Vitushka. I'm really looking forward to it! I just thought your comment was funny." 

Victor still looked a little nervous, but calmed down a bit. "You should go wake up our son."

* * *

 

The rink cooled Yuuri down, too. It was the only place where he could completely lose himself, forgetting for a moment about Victor's odd behavior and what the surprise might be. One thing he couldn't stop thinking about, though, was the _half-birthday_ nonsense. Was that really something Victor wanted to commemorate: half-birthdays? Had he done previous things for Yuuri's half-birthdays and Yuuri hadn't noticed? Should Yuuri commemorate Victor's half-birthdays, too?

No, that was ridiculous. This was just Vitya being Vitya. The surprise wasn't even really that much, probably. He probably just was going to take him out for ice cream or something.

But then why all the fuss with the phone, and pushing Yuuri out the door this morning? 

"Oi. Katsudon. You're mooning. You've practiced that step sequence 50 times now. Do some jumps or get off, I need the ice."

_Oh, Yurio. Never change._

He ran and spun into an axel, executing it flawlessly, turning around and smirking at Yurio. "It takes time to warm up to greatness. You should know, Yurio. Being a fellow Grand Prix champion and all."

Yurio rolled his eyes. "All those medals are going to your head! You're starting to sound like your husband. By the way," Yurio turned around and pointed a thumb at the door, "I was _about_ to tell you that he's here now." 

That got Yuuri's attention, whirling around to see Victor standing by the lockers with…and Yuuri had to rub his eyes, make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Yurio, can you get me my glasses?" he asked, and the teen grumbled but obliged. 

Putting them on, he looked closer and gasped, and raced to the edge of the ice. In his hands, Victor held a leash, and on the other end, the dog was no Makkachin, but… "Vicchan!" Yuuri exclaimed. "He looks exactly like Vicchan!!!"

"She," Victor corrected him, barely squeaking it out before Yuuri collapsed into his arms. Yuuri couldn't help it, he peppered his husband's face and neck with kisses. He couldn't care less if Yakov, Mila and Georgi were watching, and he could hear Yurio's gagging sound. No, that made it even better.

Calming down a little, Yuuri managed to extract himself enough from Victor's arms to get his skate guards back on, and leaned down to inspect the puppy. She really was the spitting image of Vicchan, but—"she's a girl?" he asked, rubbing her floofy head and soft, leathery ears. "What's your name, girl?"

"I knew you'd want a dog like Vicchan, but that we could never replace him. So I wanted to get you a girl poodle," he said, ruffling her fur, too. Through all this, the toy poodle was very calm, like she knew that her boys had to talk it out before she should start jumping all over everyone. Or she knew she was in a place dogs weren't allowed. Animals were funny that way, how they could read people so easily. "She's spayed, so no worries about puppies. We don't have room for that right now. And you can name her whatever you want." 

"Sochi," Yuuri said, surprising even himself with how quickly he thought of it. "It's where I met you, even if—even if I don't remember. So it will always be a special place for us."

Victor looked surprised, but smiled. "That's a good name."

Yuuri couldn't contain himself, the more he thought about it the more he wanted to cry. So he did, collapsing back into Victor's arms. "I'm so happy! This is the best half-birthday present ever—my _only_ one, but still the best! I love you _so_ much!" He was babbling, he knew, but he was too far gone, sobbing into his husband's shoulder. 

"Half birthday?" Georgi asked, incredulously. _Of course_ the entire rink gang was watching. "Even I never gave Anya anything for her _half_ -birthday." Okay. He had. But just _one time_.

"Ugh, you two are so gross! Get a room! And take your dog with you! Who names their pets after _places?"_

"Who names their cat after two other cats and a bug?" Mila snickered back.

Yurio glared. "Because it's BADASS! I told you that, _Mila!_ And scorpions aren't bugs!"

Victor laughed. "Okay, you two have fun! I'm going to take my beautiful, amazing, _romantic_ husband out for some ice cream, with our two adorable dogs!" He led a still-crying Yuuri toward the locker room.

* * *

 

Later, lying in bed that night, Victor was tracing lazy circles into his husband's back when he asked, "Yuuri, why Sochi?"

"Huh? I thought I told you," Yuuri said, leaning back against Victor's arm.

"You did, but…" Victor paused for a second, trying to come up with the right words to say what he wanted to say. "I was surprised you'd pick Sochi for a dog who looked like Vicchan. That's where you learned about his death, after all. I figured it would hold bad memories for you."

"It does, but…also some very good ones. You got her for me, and I wanted her name to reflect the place that brought us together," Yuuri smiled. "If we get any other pets, I want to name them like that, too, like Barcelona or Beijing or Hasetsu. All the places where we had our big moments." 

He nearly fell off the bed when Victor tackled him in a hug. "Oh, Yuuri! That's so romantic! I married the most _romantic_ man!"

Yuuri sighed, smiling. He's glad they had such a big bed. "Also," he began, clearing his throat to get Victor to calm down, "sometimes I think about him and…I don't like saying this, it's not a good thing to say." 

"No, Yuu-Yuu," Victor said, pulling Yuuri on to chest. They were both laying down now, and Yuuri took the opportunity to lay on top of his husband, nestling into his neck. "You can tell me anything. No secrets, between us. I love you, I want to know everything about you."

Yuuri could feel himself tearing up. _It's not just me. He feels this way, too_. "Alright. Well…sometimes I wonder if… if he _knew_. Like he could see the future, could see us together. And if he ran in front of that car so I could be with you, with his namesake, my other Vicchan." Now he was full-on crying, thinking of that sweet little dog, who loved him so much and who he still felt so guilty about not being there for when he needed it. "I…I wouldn't have screwed up my free if Mari hadn't told me right before, and then I wouldn't have drunk myself into a stupor at that banquet, and I wouldn't have danced with you…"

"And made me fall in love with you," Victor finished, sounding a bit strained himself.

"…Yes. But I _hate_ thinking that. Like you're just an _upgrade_ from him, it feels so bad. It's not like the love I feel for you, of course, he was a dog, but I loved that little dog and he loved me so much. _So_ much, Victor. He doesn't deserve that."

"Yuuri," Victor said, turning Yuuri's head to look at him. "It's okay. You want to find meaning in something sad that happened to you. We all do that. It's very human. And I think Vicchan would be happy to know how much he means to you. And I think he's looking down from doggy heaven, or wherever they go, and he's wagging his tail at us, happy that you found your other Vicchan." 

Yuuri smiled up at Victor, and rubbed the unshed tears from his eyes. "I really did. I found you." He leaned up to kiss his other Vicchan on the chin. "God, I love you so much. You always know what to say to me. I'm so glad I married you, my human Vicchan."

"Always," Victor said, as he rolled to be able to kiss his Yuu-chan on the lips. "I hope I gave you a good half-birthday."

"The best," Yuuri said, smiling into another kiss. "Until the next one. You're always so good at surprising me."

**Author's Note:**

> The "original female character" was Sochi :)
> 
> The anxiety parts are pretty heavily based on my own experiences dealing with anxiety and getting therapy for it, so I hope that rings true to people. I get frustrated sometimes with the way that Yuuri's anxiety is depicted in the fandom, so I guess this is my answer to that.
> 
> In case you were wondering, "human Vicchan" is indeed a reference to this: https://twitter.com/dawgbelly/status/862786851072909312?lang=en
> 
> Mon chou = French endearment used to mean "sweetie," but literally translates to "my cabbage." Victor is canonically fluent in French, and I tend to write him using French endearments because I speak French and not Russian, so I feel more comfortable writing it. I believe that he uses both; Victor is extra and would whisper sweet nothings to Yuuri in every language that he knows.


End file.
